Barcenas wins title as Vikings place fourth

LAKE ROOSEVELT - The Mabton High School wrestling team crowned a champion at the Power House Tournament in Lake Roosevelt this past weekend.

As a team, the Vikes took fourth place honors with 88-1/2 points. State powerhouse Warden dominated the seven-team tournament, taking first place honors with 262 points. Lake Roosevelt was second with 150 points and Cascade was third with 90 points. Kittitas rounded out the field of seven with 6 points.

"The story of our weekend was we lost a lot of close matches," said Mabton Coach Ron Rutz.

The Vikings' champion came at 125 lbs. Mabton's Abel Barcenas went 2-0, including a 16-1 technical fall win in the semis, to claim the 125 lb. crown. In his finals match against Warden's Avram Leavitt, Barcenas gave up an escape with 30 seconds left to tie the score at 5-5. But, Barcenas scored the takedown in the overtime to win the match.

"He wrestled well," said Rutz of Barcenas. "He was pretty much in control (of the finals match)."

Victor Bustos (3-1) defeated Warden's A.J. Martinez by fall in 1:22 to win the consolation championship at 119 lbs. Rutz said Bustos wrestled tough as he claimed third place honors in the tournament. After losing his semi-finals match, Bustos rallied to win his next two matches by pin, in 59 seconds and 1:22, respectively.

Javier Galvan was one of four Vikings to nab fourth place finishes. Galvan finished fourth at 140 lbs. with a 2-2 mark. Galvan dropped a close consolation finals match to Warden's Cody Cole, losing 7-6. Galvan gave up a late takedown, which proved to be the difference.

"He wrestled well, even though he lost," said Rutz. "Jovanni is starting to get a lot better."

In only his second outing of the season, Mabton's Noe Calixto (2-2) finished fourth at 189 lbs. Calixto lost to Micah Sekins of Lake Roosevelt in the consolation finals by pin in 2:54. Rutz said Calixto struggled because he had a cold and is still trying to get back in wrestling shape.

Mabton's Robert Marquez drew a tough bracket at 215 lbs., which featured three State veterans. The Viking freshman went 2-2, holding his own against some more experienced wrestlers. Marquez's most notable match came in the semi-finals against State tourney veteran Carlos Hernandez of Warden. Marquez had Hernandez on his back and the crowd in awe at one point in the match, but eventually lose by pin in 5:06. Marquez went on to lost in the consolation finals to Liberty's John Grewe, another State tourney veteran, 7-4.

At 130 lbs., Mabton's Alex Gutierrez went 1-2 for the Vikes. Teammate Marcos Zepeda was 0-2 at 135 lbs.

. Mike Kantman can be contacted at (509) 837-4500, or email him at mkantman@eaglenewspapers.com